


Family Reunion, a Steven Universe fanfic

by LordKaiserthe1st



Series: Rose Redemption AU [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Post-Episode s05e29-32 Change Your Mind, Rose Returns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 15:50:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16835722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordKaiserthe1st/pseuds/LordKaiserthe1st
Summary: With all that Steven has learned about the nature of gems, the memories from his mother that have surfaced, Steven has one question humming in his head. Could his mother still be alive?





	Family Reunion, a Steven Universe fanfic

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic, reposting from my Deviantart account. Feedback is always appreciated!

“You have to be the one to do it.”

There was an awkward silence that carried throughout the entirety of the house, piercing its way through the gentle patter of rain outside striking the roof. Bismuth could hardly believe what she was hearing, trying to regain her composure after the initial shock, she tried to find the right words to say.

“Let me get this straight” she said, trying to break down everything he had told her, “You think that Rose, or Pink Dia-whoever your… your?” she struggled to find the correct word.

“Mom.” Steven interjected, Bismuth was still having to get accustomed to using familial terms.

“Right, ‘mom’. Whoever your mom was, is somehow still alive inside your gem, and that perhaps someone could go inside it, and establish some means to communicate with her, and even if this insane plan works.” Bismuth continued, “You picked ME!? Listen Steven, I owe you a lot, you’ve been a good and valuable friend to me, but this seems like kind of a tall order, even for me.”

“Please Bismuth” Connie, one of Steven’s human friends spoke up, she could tell from the way they had been looking at one another and how Connie had been watching him from the sofa that it seemed more like Connie’s idea than Steven’s. Before Bismuth could respond, Connie spoke up again.

“Steven has been telling me about how he found out about his mom, how he did so entering Pearl’s gem and meeting past versions of her. If this is consistent with other gems, it could be possible that she’s in there, and we know from Pearl’s cell phone that we might be able to speak to whoever’s in there. Steven has been finding more and more memories from his mom, when we went to that jungle moon and fell asleep as Stevonnie. Not to mention the Moon Base!” Ah yes, Stevonnie, the fusion between Steven and his friend, it was still a shocking revelation for Bismuth to imagine fusion being possible with humans.

Connie continued to plead, “And if Steven can finally talk to his mom, that would be great for both of them!” The gem had to give her credit, the human was pretty smart, the way she put it, the plan almost made sense, except for one tiny detail.

“Why does it have to be me though?” Bismuth asked, “I may not be in a big hurry to make another breaking point, but I still definitely have some unsaid feelings towards Rose.”

“Well…” Steven began to look nervous, “because I don’t want the other gems to know, not Garnet, Amethyst, and definitely not Pearl, at least not until we find Mom.”

Bismuth took a big sigh, he wasn’t saying it, but the kid was scared. He had told her a lot about what his thoughts were on Rose. How she used to really be his hero, about how he felt bad about being here instead of her at times, as he felt he was never able to truly master his powers. He said as much back when they found Bismuth’s gem in his Lion’s mane. But with everything he had found out about his mother, he had only feelings of betrayal and confusion. Steven breathed deep and got onto his knees, hands folded together.

“Please Bismuth!” he begged, as he showed off what Garnet had warned her were his ‘puppy-dog’ eyes, “This would mean a lot to me!” Steven shot a quick glance towards Connie, as she gave a little smile and a nod in satisfaction. Bismuth tried to look away and ignore Steven’s begging, but she couldn’t stand much longer to see Steven look so glum. “O-okay, okay, just, sheath those killer eyes of yours. You’re going to make me cry!”

“Oh my gosh! Thank you so much Bismuth!” Before the gem could even say anything in response, the half-gem boy immediately gave Bismuth a hug.

The following day, Steven, Connie, and Bismuth had met at her forge, they gave their excuses to the others and departed, saying they were going to help forge a new sword for Connie. Upon entering the forge, Bismuth began to clear her workstation of unnecessary clutter, as the room echoed with the clang of swords and armor hitting the floor. The rainbow-haired gem then pulled out what appeared to be a smart tablet attached to what looked to be the remains of one of Peridot’s old robonoids. 

“The little fire-spitter and I have been working on a little project to try and combine human and gem tech.” Bismuth let go of the tablet, and much to Steven and Connie’s dismay, the limbs of the robonoid protruded from the body and began to spin rapidly, “This baby will get a decent signal almost anywhere, AND it’ll stay up on it’s own, even if you don’t have metal powers.”

“Wow Bismuth!” Stars began to form in Steven and Connie’s eyes, “That’s so cool! Peridot must have been showing you how all the new gem tech works! Wait, isn’t that..?”

“It’s okay, Steven.” Bismuth reassured, “I told her this was going to be used for something really important to you, and she’ll have to forgive me eventually. And she WON’T tell anyone, I made her promise.”

The gem chuckled a little, she had been happy to have such an enthusiastic assistant at the forge, and she didn’t much mind to how talkative she was, Bismuth was just happy to have someone to keep her company when she worked, and the Lapis Lazuli seemed nice enough, but given their…history during the Gem War, they had agreed to keep largely to themselves.

“So, if Rose is hiding in there, all I need to do is find her, right?” Bismuth grabbed a shoulder bag and slowly placed the tablet inside of it, careful not to drop it, destroying the delicate electronics within. Peridot was naturally upset, but when she told the tiny green gem that it was for Steven, she handed it to her almost without a fuss. “Okay, so how do we get in?”  
“Uhhh…” Steven began to look incredibly nervous, “I don’t… really know, when Pearl did it, she just tapped the surface of her gem, she did the same thing whenever she wanted to look for something she would stash in there.” The boy began to look distraught, “But I’ve been trying all morning. And I haven’t gotten anywhere.”

Connie placed a hand on Steven’s left shoulder, “Hey, it’s okay.” she smiled, hoping it would make Steven a little happier, “Maybe think of it as like entering Lion’s mane.” Connie reassured, hoping the advice would help, “Just relax and clear your head. I’m here.” She held onto Steven’s left hand tight, as Steven placed his right hand onto his gem, he closed his eyes, and began to breathe slowly. Suddenly, his gemstone was glowing a brilliant shade of Pink, the light grew brighter and brighter until it began to blind everyone as it encompassed every corner of the room.

“Bismuth! I think this is your cue!” Steven hollered, while he covered his eyes from the blinding light of his gem.

“Right! I’ll let you kids know when I made it in!” Bismuth stared at the Pink Pentagonal cut of Steven’s gem with determination, ignoring how much the light hurt her eyes, she allowed her physical form to be warped and collapsed until it was engulfed into the luminescent void. 

With a blunt thud, Bismuth hit the surface of whatever strange new hidden world she found herself in. She took a moment to get her bearings. She waited for her vision to clear, but was met with disappointment when she saw she was still within her forge, she sighed.

“Well, sorry kids, I guess it just wasn’t-“ She turned to face her two companions, but neither were present, she had also seen the anvil in the middle of the room was gone, leaving only a hexagonal chasm in its place.

“Oh-oh no.” She knew what this was. Steven had warned her that it would be like his journey through Pearl’s gem and that she would probably see some of his more unpleasant memories. But deep down, she hoped she wouldn’t see this again, but before she could pull herself together, she had already heard noise from the bottom of the pit. She knew what she had to do, Steven had informed her that she would have to find each version of him to go deeper until they found Rose, and even then, Bismuth still had no idea what she would do if she were to see her again. Opening her bag, she reached down and activated the tablet, she looked at her messages, one read, Bismuth, this is Connie, text me when you get this. Bismuth replied, I got ya, I’ll let you know when I find something.

“-I would have liberated everyone!” Bismuth could hear the enraged echoes of her past shade, and looked away in shame. She remembered what she was going through. She remembered the rage she had towards Rose for bubbling her away. How she never told anyone where she was, how helpless she felt learning from Pearl and Garnet how everyone else was gone or later she learned ‘corrupted’. She felt she knew what was best for the Crystal Gems to be free from Homeworld. She clenched her fists in frustration. She just wanted to help her friends so much, but she never realized she would have doomed them all the same. Were it not for Rose’s shield, she may have truly been the last normal gem on Earth.

“I’m going to tell them! I’m gonna tell them everything!” Bismuth couldn’t help but squirm a little seeing herself poof, that was the moment she realized her mistake, that Steven wasn’t Rose, he was her son, even now, there were hurdles for her to cross in trying to understand that, and thankfully, Steven showed his patience and understanding in overcoming them. She smiled lightly, he was a good kid, and it baffled her how someone like that could be so similar and yet so different from his mother. Her smile faded, she just wanted to focus on getting past this, to just leave it in the past and forget it. The sooner the better, she thought.

“Uh… hey little man!” Bismuth tried to put on a friendly demeanor when approaching Steven, so as not to startle him.

“Ah, please, I’m not my mom!” The boy stumbled back, hands touching the burning hot surface of the floor, as he shrieked in pain, but he continued to scurry away from the rainbow-haired gem.

“No, wait, please, I’m not going to hurt you, I just wanna help!” Bismuth rushed to try and help the half-gem child to his feet, but Steven seemed to try and ignore the pain and kept scuttling away from each of the separated platforms, avoiding the burning lava.

“Steven, STOP!” She finally caught up to him, annoyed with how she had to go through such a pointless chase to catch him, but as she held him up by his shirt, she could see his face. Her expression instantly softened. Tears were streaming down his face as he was lifting his arms to shield his head, his voice was cracked and hoarse.

“P-please Bismuth” he whimpered, “please don’t hurt me.”

Somehow, Bismuth felt like the smallest gem in history, this was the first person she had met in several thousands of years, Steven had opened his heart and his home to her, and here he was, in pain and pleading for his life. She hoped Steven had moved past this, and had come to really see her as a friend, but she found herself having to wipe her eyes as she came to accept that perhaps there will always be a part of the boy that will remember this. There was no taking it back, she did it, and all she and Steven could do to help was try to apologize and move on, she tried to think of what Pearl would say to him when he was upset.

“Steven, baby, I’m sorry. It’s my fault, and I didn’t mean to hurt you, it’s going to be alright now.” She brought him closer to her and cradled him in her arms. She could hear his tears creating lines of steam as they hit the floor. “I promise I’ll leave you be, but you need to help me get a little further into your memories.” Steven looked up at her, wiping his eyes, he nodded in understanding. He lifted his shirt to expose his gem and once again, it began to glow until it hurt her eyes. 

The light slowly died down, and Bismuth tried to focus her eyesight, as the blurriness faded, she could hear the gentle sound of ocean waves followed by the cawing of seagulls, the sun was only beginning to rise as she picked up the sound of crunching sand to her right. She turned to see Steven in his pajamas holding an old video tape in his hand. He didn’t even seem to even notice her as he rushed passed her to meet two other humans at a building Steven had told her about called the ‘Big Donut’.

“Sadie, Sadie!” He seemed to have something urgent to share with these particular people. She made her way to the door, wincing at the poor choice of fragile glass for the front of the building, would it kill humans to just go back to stone? She thought to herself. She opened the door, and looked around. Steven had told her what this place was, but she had still yet to make a proper visit. Eventually, she had found Steven and the shorter human in a back room, the dim glow of a television being the only light present.

“Steven, we can’t both exist.” Bismuth was startled to hear Rose’s voice again, but calmed herself when she realized it was only a recording on the TV, like one of Steven’s ‘movies’ they had watched together, but all the same, it was strange to know she was there, but not at the same time. She continued to listen, “I’m going to become half of you, and I need you to know that every moment you love being yourself, that me! Loving you and loving being you!”

The rainbow haired gem had to take a step back, out of every thought she had about Rose, she had forgotten what had drawn her to Rose to begin with. When she first met her, she had seemed so kind and compassionate, how selfless she seemed. She thought to herself, she wanted to have this kid so bad, even if it meant she could never see him, never be there to help him grow. She didn’t know what to make of this, of Rose, but she knew she had more pressing matters at hand.

“Steven? Buddy?” Bismuth was worried how Steven would react here, this seemed to be a memory from before they first met, how would he react?

“Oh, sorry.” Steven chuckled as he wiped his tears, a now pretty familiar sight to her, but here it was different, he had an innocent little smile and appeared to be at ease. Bismuth saw from the purity of his face that he was touched by Rose’s words. “I was just… can I help you?”

So he didn’t know her yet, she sighed, she didn’t know if she was emotionally ready for another apology. “It would seem I’m a little lost, and I think you might be able to help me.” 

“Oh.” Steven stood up, unbuttoning his pajama shirt, as his gem’s light quickly drowned out the light of the small television, and as quickly as it came, it faded.

Bismuth’s vision went from being blinded by light to being blinded by unrelenting snow. She tried to only go in one direction and find out where she was, and discovered the dim porch light of a modern human home. She had never seen this place before, and Steven had never told her about another home he stayed at before. She looked around and saw a human with long hair, carrying a bag in one arm and something wrapped in a blanket in the other. He was walking towards the front door of the house. Bismuth squinted to see past the frozen maelstrom and recognized him as Steven’s… ugh, what was the word? Father! Steven’s father Greg! She marched through the snow, lifting her legs higher to overcome the rising snowbanks, as it crunched with every step. 

“Hey, you!” Bismuth tried to wave at Greg, he seemed to look softer, with more hair, was that normal for humans?

“Oh, hey stranger!” Greg answered, trying to fumble through his pockets for his house keys to open the door. “Say, could you give me a hand, I don’t think either of us want to just stand out there in the cold.”

Bismuth looked somewhat confused by his statement, but remembered that humans can’t survive in extreme temperatures. She wondered how ever they managed to last as long as they did, especially in a place that seemed to snow as bad as this place. She continued to trudge through the rest of the snow and finally entered the front entrance of the house.

“Okay, let’s see, groceries, keys, bab- wait, WHERE’S STEVEN!?” Greg panicked as he tried to look everywhere to find his son. As he was doing so, a small, curly-haired, head emerged from the grocery bag, a strange plastic button of sorts covering his mouth. Bismuth tried to gently lift the small infant from the bag, holding it close to her.

“Uh, Greg?” The human turned around, and let out an enormous sigh of relief, “Thank you so much, I don’t know what I’d do without this little man!” She carefully handed him the child, as he made sure to support his head.

“This… is Steven?” Bismuth said in utter bewilderment. “Yeah, this is my son, he’s just a few months old, and who are you by the way?” Greg answered. Bismuth tried to find the best way explain this to the person inside Steven’s gem… inside Steven’s ge-no time to unpack that now! She told herself.

“I, uh, knew his mother, Rose.” Bismuth tried, and failed, not to sound completely uncomfortable with how she spoke. “Is it okay if I stay here a bit?” “Sure!” chimed Greg, “I need to get a bottle of formula ready for Steven, just let him chill out on the sofa there and watch him.”

Greg then walked off into the other room, she could hardly believe what she was seeing, she knew Steven was half human, and as such needed to eat and sleep regularly, but she had forgotten about how radically humans changed. To think this giggling, flailing, helpless little creature would go onto save the world, to free her… She smiled at him, he was really something, it seemed at least one of Rose’s plans paid off… her smile vanished. Steven tried to cock his head to look in Greg’s general direction, but he had already left to go to the kitchen. The small infant began to make a confused blubbering sound as if to form words, only for it to end in crying. Bismuth panicked, never having taken care of a baby, she tried to think of what to do to calm him down.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay little Steven! Greg’s not gone, he just went to get ya something. Relax.” Her words fell on deaf ears as Steven continued to wail uncontrollably, “Try holding him, he loves people!” Hollered Greg from the other room. The Rainbow-haired gem proceeded to follow Greg’s advice, carefully lifting him up and making sure to support his head, just as he had earlier.

“See, it’s not so bad now, right?” Steven had finally stopped crying and had managed to calm down. Bismuth took a sigh of relief until she felt something grab onto one of her individually colored dreadlocks and pull tightly, it didn’t hurt, but it certainly caught her off guard.

“What, hey! Let go you little troublemaker.” Bismuth jerked her neck to free her hair from the infant’s grasp, he was laughing, unaware of who the stranger was, but felt happy to see a friendly face, as the child giggled and continued to pull, his Gem began to glow. The gem knew it was time to go and set him down on the sofa once more.

“What the, is that normal!?” Greg had returned from the other room, a warmed baby bottle in his hand. “This is.” Replied Bismuth, pointing to the glowing gemstone. “But this may be a little strange.” The light once again encompassed the gem as she was blinded by a radiant pink light.

Bismuth tried to take small steps, right away, she could tell she was walking uphill, the crisp, fresh spring air clued her in that she had gone back further again, as the season here was different from the howling cold of winter. She deduced that since the last memory was when Steven was very young, if this wasn’t a sign she had found her, she didn’t know what was. She walked over to the edge of the cliff, and was taken aback to see what was laid out before her. She could see the full expanse of the town, from the boardwalk, to the lighthouse, and poking out from around the corner, the arms of the temple. She couldn’t believe there was such a place to see the whole town from down below, the people down there unaware of their silent observer, it all seemed so calm and peaceful. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a rain of pink flower petals rain down from the sky, she gasped as the brilliant array of color descended to the unsuspecting town below. Sprinkling across the entire landscape, it was almost enough to bring a tear to her eye. She felt more than willing to lose herself to the spectacle before her, until she heard the sound of footsteps behind her.

“Bismuth?” She immediately snapped out of her trance and tried to search for the source of the voice. Finally, she met eyes with a woman with large, curly pink hair and a white flowing dress. “Is that really you?”

The Rainbow-haired gem knew this was likely coming, she tried to find the right words, she knew right now, no matter how she felt, she was doing this for Steven, and for once she would do HIM a favor. “Yes Rose, it’s me, and not just some memory, I got here by going through your sons memories.”

“You… you did?” Rose seemed honestly shocked by what she was telling her. “Look, Bismuth, I know you’re angry, but please, Steven didn’t do anything to you!” Bismuth winced, she wanted to try and retort, but she continued to feel guilt over her first time meeting Steven. Even if she harbored no ill will toward Steven now, she still felt something inside her sink at Rose’s request. “I don’t want to hurt Steven.” Bismuth tried to calmly reassure her, “I actually came to give you this.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the tablet handing it to Rose.

Rose looked at the small, thin device, the remains of the robonoid seemingly shoved into the back of it as wires and circuitry lay bare and exposed, “Bismuth, I… I can’t.” Rose turned away, putting her hand over her mouth. “What!?” Bismuth was confused, Rose clearly loved Steven, and she knew she wanted to be a part of Steven’s life, logically, she should want this more than anything. “What do you mean you can’t?”

“I’ve hurt him.” Rose’s eyes began to tear up, “You don’t understand, it’s all my fault! All I wanted for my baby was to be happy, to have a life outside of the mess I made!” Rose futilely tried to wipe her eyes, but the tears were overflowing. “He and his friend’s lives are in danger because of the lie I tried to so hard to keep secret, I thought I could just bury the past. And now that Steven knows the truth, I don’t know what I can say to make it up to him. My baby will grow up to hate and resent me because I… I’m such a terrible mother.” Bismuth was aghast at the sight before her, she remembered seeing this gem face up against armies of Homeworld gems with a smile, she would laugh at the prospect of even facing the Diamonds themselves, her resilience on the battlefield, the sight of her shield was a sign of strength. Now this same gem was broken, sobbing in front of her at the simple prospect of meeting her own child.

Bismuth took a deep breath, and gently took hold of Rose’s hands, as they were busy covering her eyes. “Rose. If you could. Just. Get. A HOLD OF YOURSELF!!!” Rose looked at Bismuth, her crying stopped by her shock at Bismuth’s sudden change of tone. “Who are you? I came here looking for Rose Quartz! You see her around here? Because I sure don’t! The Rose I knew was the toughest, most stubborn gem I ever met, there were times where it seemed like not even White Diamond would make you budge. But clearly all I found was some sobbing sad-sack, happy to keep beating herself up for all eternity about mistakes she made in the past. The Rose I knew wouldn’t be cutting herself off from the people she loved just because she was scared those people would be mad, and maybe they are! I of all gems have the most reason to be angry with you! You bubbled me away and told nobody about what happened, stole a number of millennia from me that I will never get back! I still have half a mind to lay you out right now, but I won’t! Because I’m following your son’s example, and I’m putting what I want aside for what he needs, like he has for me for as long as I’ve known him!”

Rose looked away, trying to compose herself, but before she could get her bearings, Bismuth chimed in once more, “And do you want to know the worst part?” “I’m sure you’re about to tell me.” Rose’s voice cracked as she looked down in shame. “You have a terrific son!” Rose looked up, taken aback by her statement, “He’s sweet, loving, patient, everything that YOU wanted to be, everything I THOUGHT you were. And he may not say it out loud, but he is DESPERATE to see his mother. I would have wanted someone better for him to go to be his mom, but you are gonna have to do! Regardless of whether he hates you or not, you need to be there and support him as he helps clean up your mess and grows to be the gem you always wanted to be! Now listen, do you love your son?”

“Y-yes.” Rose was still reeling from Bismuth’s words. “I said DO YOU. LOVE. YOUR SON!?” “More than life itself!” Rose shouted, sounding just a touch indignant at what she thought the other gem was implying. “Then tell him, and for once, you’ll be telling the truth!” Bismuth raised the tablet, and entered a text to Connie before quickly handing it to Rose. A light began to shine once more, and Bismuth saw before her flashes of the previous memories, of Rose’s last time seeing the moss bloom over Beach City, of Steven being an infant under the care of Greg, of Steven hearing his mother’s voice and seeing her face for the first time, to when Bismuth had attacked him in her forge. Finally, she plopped onto the floor of the forge, dizzy and lightheaded.

“Bismuth, did you find her? Did you find Rose?” Bismuth held her arms out to her sides and tried to steady her balance, she turned to see Steven sitting on the floor, looking flush and tired, Connie supporting his upper body. “Steven started hyperventilating like he was sick, Pearl wasn’t like this, what’s wrong with Steven?”

Bismuth’s mind cleared as she rushed to scoop Steven off the floor, his body was completely limp and weak, he had told her he wasn’t like other gems, his body was organic, and could break down when stressed, it seemed like the strain of their experiment had been quite a tremendous burden for the child. “Steven? Steven, can you hear me? It’s Bismuth, I’m back. I got you, buddy.” The half-gem boy groaned, as if stirred from a nap. “Bismuth?” His voice was so weak, she could just barely make it out over the ambiance of the forge, “Are you okay? Did you find anything? Was she in there?” Incredible, she thought to herself, I ought to be asking him that, where does this kid get it? “Yes Steven, I found Rose. She has the tablet. Let’s get back to your place and see if we can finally contact her.” 

It was getting close to sundown, Connie was on the phone with her parents, telling them she was going to spend the night at Steven’s house. Steven’s back was against the foot of the bed, his body wrapped in bed sheets as he held a small glass of water in his hands. Bismuth had never had to care for a human before, so she just asked Steven what she could do to help him, and simply did as he asked. “Hey, I know you’re not quite back to full strength yet, but you wanna try calling Rose?” Steven turned his head to face her, the lines under his eyes were plain to see. “I… I don’t know, when you were in there, I was kind of scared. Scared that you might actually find her.” The gem looked confused, “What do you mean?” “Well…” he took a quick sip of his water and gently placed it on the floor beside him, it did little to help his voice, as it still seemed weak from the ordeal, “After everything I’ve found out about my mom, I had been thinking, about why she had me. I mean, she lied about who she was, about what happened to you, everything, what if she just wanted to have me so she wouldn’t have to deal with her problems. I me-“

“Let me stop you right there, young man.” Bismuth crossed her arms and looked Steven right in the eye, what she was about to say was something she wanted him to take to heart. “Your mother did hurt a lot of people, and she did do things that were self-serving, but if there is one thing I could still thank her for, one good thing that she did, it was having you. She made a lot of mistakes, but don’t you DARE think you’re one of them!” Steven’s eyes were wide with shock, he needed a moment to fully absorb the gem’s statement. “Steven?” Bismuth felt concerned by his silence, did she say something wrong? However, before she could say anything else, Steven leapt out of his sheets, and into the gem’s arms, silently weeping. “I love you too, Bismuth.” She tried to hide the tears that were forming in her eyes, with a deep breath, she set Steven down. “Okay, let’s go call your mother.”

They pulled out Connie’s laptop, Steven noted it would be better to place it away from any ledges where it might fall and break. They opened the videophone app and waited, it showed there was indeed a signal, it continued to try and reach, but after a few long minutes, nothing. “Maybe you forgot to tell Rose how to respond to calls?” Connie tried to reassure the group, but it didn’t stick. “Let’s try again.” Steven said, a look of determination taking over his features. They called again, each passing moment feeling like an eternity. Once again, the call failed to connect. Steven sighed, and sat down at the foot his bed again. “Hey, it’s alright, there wasn’t anything you can do to make her do this, it’s her loss.” “Thanks Bismuth.” Steven said, the feeling of defeat clear from his expression.

“Hey, don’t worry about it Steven.” Connie sat to his right, trying to comfort him, “You still have us, right?” Steven smiled, but it was clear he was still very upset. “Hey, if you want to call your mom, maybe you can get home before it gets too dark outside.” 

“Are you kidding? And leave you like this? What would you do without me?” Connie jokingly stated. Steven couldn’t help but chuckle at the remark, “Yeah, I guess I would be pretty lost without you.”  
Connie leaned over to shut off the laptop, before it suddenly flashed and a window popped up on the screen, someone was trying to call them. “Is it who I think it is?” Connie said, with the look of disbelief in her eyes. “Let’s try.” Steven said, curious to see who was on the other end. Connie clicked on connect call, and in a moment, Rose’s face showed on the screen, as she looked surprised to see the group that met her gaze.

“Steven?” She said, hardly believing that she was truly speaking to her own child for the first time. “Mom?” Steven said, as he crawled closer to the screen. “Oh Steven, I… I’m so, so sorry.” Rose was starting to get choked up, as she fought to hold back the tears, “I’m sorry about everything, I should have told you-“ “mom.” Steven tried to interject, but Rose continued. “-, and I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness-“ “mom!” “It’s okay. If you need someone to be angry at, baby, it’s m-“ “MOM!” Rose was startled by the sternness of Steven’s voice as she covered her mouth with her hand. “I don’t hate you! Okay? I… I just want to talk, this may be the only chance I may ever get, and I want you to be a part of my life!” Rose’s expression began to shift from shock, to relief, to absolute grief, the tears she tried so hard to contain began to stream down in earnest, as she broke down into a sobbing mess. “I love you Steven, I love you so much!” Steven smiled as he wiped the tears from his eyes and cleared his throat of the knot that seemed to have found its way there. 

Rose tried to take deep breaths, she wiped her eyes and cleared her throat, and as she did she looked to Steven’s right and saw a young human girl next to him. “That’s Connie, right? The girl that you like?” “Mom…” Steven groaned, his embarrassment clear as his face turned as red as a cherry. “Oh! Sorry sweetheart!” Rose quickly apologized, “I’ve seen you two together through your gem, and she seems lovely, you two are so sweet together.” Connie’s face began to blush as well, Bismuth chuckled a bit. “I’ve been able to see your whole life from inside here, there were so many times where I wanted to say something, and I felt so helpless for the last few years, as you continue to suffer for the follies of my youth and naiveté. If there is any way I can make up for this, just say it, please, I’ll do anything, sweetie, name it!” “There is one thing I want you to do.” Steven said, “But we’ll have to wait for a bit…”

Steven had gotten himself comfortable on the sofa, Connie booted up the laptop computer to help get everything prepared for when the other gems arrive. Bismuth decided Steven and his friend had earned a treat, tossing in two whole pizzas into the oven and using her shape shifting to transform her hands to do so more easily. She closed the oven and looked to check on Steven. He still looked flush, but nothing a good night sleep wouldn’t help finally cure. “Hey, you sure you want to have her do this?” “Yeah.” Steven retorted, taking another drink of water, “after mom talks to Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, I want her to talk to Blue and Yellow Diamond next. I know how you feel about them, and so you don’t have to be there for that talk.”

“Maybe I do.” Bismuth said, “That sure was a strange request to ask Rose, to talk to everyone else, don’t you have anything else you wanted to say to her?” “I do.” Steven asserted, “But I can do that later, right now, I think it would be better for the others to have some closure first. Besides, I’m sure it will help the Diamonds realize I’m not my mom.”

Bismuth chuckled, “Steven, you’re a good kid, thanks for having me here. Just know that from now on, you might not be able to get rid of me, I want to help you grow up into a great leader, and I know I’m not alone in that goal.” The sun had finally set, and at last, the other worldly hum of the warp pad rang throughout the house as a light came to illuminate every corner of Steven’s domicile. As it faded, three figures emerged, the thinnest one, Pearl, spoke up. “Steven, we’re back, we’re very sorry for taking so long.” She looked to see Steven sitting on the couch, the color on his face somewhat pale and Connie sitting to his left. “The Diamond’s attack on the temple disturbed more bubble gems then we may have realized.” Garnet said bluntly, before seeing Pearl rush to Steven’s side, placing the back of her hand on his forehead to check for a fever. “Whoa, Ste-man, you okay?” Amethyst chimed, sounding concerned. “He’s okay, deep-cut.” Bismuth responded, standing behind the kitchen counter, as she pulled two pizzas out of the oven. “He and I decided to test a theory today, right little buddy?” The rainbow-haired gem cheerfully said. Steven smiled back and nodded, “I have something to show you.” Steven opened a videophone window in the computer, and began to connect to a signal on the other end. In the span of a few minutes, another face emerged. “Hello, everyone, I’m sure we all have some catching up to do.” Responded the sultry, soothing voice of Rose, the gem who was once Pink Diamond.

-Fin.


End file.
